1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to a disk drive system and a clamping mechanism for use in a recording-reproducing apparatus for recording or reproducing information. More specifically, the invention relates to a disk drive system and a clamping mechanism capable of applying an aerodynamic force to a rotating flexible thin optical disk using a stabilizer to suppress a surface run-out of the flexible thin optical disk while rotating the flexible thin optical disk and stabilize the surface run-out of the rotating flexible thin optical disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
A related-art recording-reproducing apparatus for an optical disk generally includes a spindle motor having a shaft and a turntable fixed on the shaft. In the related-art recording-reproducing apparatus, the optical disk placed on the turntable is rotated while recording information on the optical disk or retrieving the information from the optical disk. More specifically, in the recording-reproducing apparatus, a ring-shaped hole is provided in the center of the turntable and a ring-shaped magnet is provided in the hole. The ring-shaped magnet is designed to attract a metallic clamper (e.g., clamper made of metallic plates) suspended from a supporting angle inside the recording-reproducing apparatus, thereby clamping (sandwiching) the optical disk between the turntable and the clamper. With the above related art configuration of the recording-reproducing apparatus, the optical disk is supported in a direction of a disk placing surface of the turntable.
With the related art configuration, it is possible to clamp a thin-film shaped optical disk having a thickness of 0.3 mm or less (hereinafter called a “thin optical disk”) between the turntable and the clamper; however, it may be difficult to stably rotate the thin optical disk clamped between the turntable and the clamper. Recently, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-107698 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) has disclosed a recording-reproducing apparatus capable of stably rotating the thin optical disk using a so-called stabilizer. Accordingly, it is desired to provide a disk drive system having a stabilizing mechanism serving as both a tray and the stabilizer and a clamping mechanism, and having an exceedingly compact configuration.
It is desirable that the disk drive system for the flexible thin optical disk have a stabilizer to apply aerodynamic force to the rotating flexible thin optical disk so that the flexible thin optical disk is stably driven by suppressing the surface run-out of the rotating flexible thin optical disk. Further, it is also desirable to have a sufficient space for allowing air to flow at a side opposite to a stabilizer facing surface of the flexible thin optical disk in order to securely obtain the effect of the stabilizer.
FIGS. 14 through 16 are views illustrating configuration examples of the related art disk drive system for the thin optical disk disclosed in NHK GIKEN-DAYORI No. 42, 2008.09, R&D “Thin Optical Disk” (hereinafter referred to as Non-Patent Document 1) available via http://www.nhk.or.jp/strl/publica/giken dayori/jp2/rd-0809.html. In these examples, a commercially available tray is added to the disk drive system disclosed in the Non-Patent Document 1.
As illustrated in FIG. 14, a tray 1a currently outwardly ejected for placing a not-shown thin optical disk is moved from and into the disk drive system in directions indicated by a bidirectional arrow. In FIG. 15, the tray 1a having the thin optical disk (not-shown) is received inside the disk drive system where the tray 1a having the thin optical disk is moved under a tilted stabilizing plate 1b in directions showing movements of the tilted stabilizing plate 1b indicated by a bidirectional arrow. Note that the tray 1a includes a cutout portion 1c (see FIG. 14) extending to its center portion such that a turntable 7 and an optical pick up unit 5 do not interfere with each other.
As illustrated in FIG. 16, when the tray 1a having the thin optical disk is moved inside the disk drive system (i.e., closed) and the stabilizing plate 1b is lowered, the thin optical disk is clamped with a not-shown clamper, thereby starting to rotate the thin optical disk. However, in order to further obtain the effect of a stabilizing plate 1b, operations such as raising the turntable 7 to which the thin optical disk is clamped by the clamper are carried out for providing a space for allowing the air to flow in various directions. Accordingly, the thin optical disk may be stably rotated based on the effect of the stabilizing plate 1b. 
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-223755 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) discloses a disk device that includes a disk holder at the center of a disk tray such that not only a standard circular optical disk such as a CD or a DVD but also a noncircular disk such as a card-shaped disk can be precisely mounted at the center of the disk tray. In this example, the above described related art clamping technology is applied for clamping the optical disk in the disk tray.
However, as illustrated in FIGS. 14 through 16, the disk drive system in which the thin optical disk is loaded or unloaded with the tray additionally includes the stabilizing plate 1b, a mechanism for moving the stabilizing plate 1b, and a mechanism for providing a space for efficiently moving the stabilizing plate 1b, which are otherwise unnecessary for an optical disk having an ordinary thickness. Accordingly, the configuration of the disk drive system for the thin optical disk may become complex and thus it may be difficult to make the disk drive system thinner. Further, there may not so far have been proposed a disk drive system in which the thin optical disk is loaded or unloaded with a tray and the tray is provided with a stabilizer for stably rotating the thin optical disk.